Pixel nation.

So, as a warmup for my guest post over at Design Crisis, I've pulled together a roundup of avant-garde goodies featuring one of my favorite new design motifs: pixels.

The front-runner on the trend has got to be Spanish wunderkind Cristian Zuzunaga, who first riveted international audiences with his masters thesis at Royal College of Art, a collaboration with fellow student Peter Smith:





Moroso didn't waste a second in capitalizing on his talent, commissioning him to create this groovier-than-thou Pixel sofa in 2008:



He followed it up with a limited-edition run of custom fabric for Ligne Roset (the giant room-sized sectional is kinda ugsters but I am head over heels for the side chairs):


a line of too-gorgeous-to-cut wrapping papers for Lagom:



and a showroom installation for jewelers Belmacz:


Zuzunaga's next collaboration, with furniture designer Christophe Delcourt, was unveiled at this year's Maison et Objet, where pixellation seemed to be one of the themes of the day.


That's Zuzunaga above; DB readers, with their finely honed sense of taste and aesthetics, will immediately note that he is far from ugly. I think I might have a little crushola.

So, um, moving along, the actual work:


Holy smokes do I want to spec those chairs for someone. They're amazing. The sofa makes me want to fling myself on it and roll around like a gato:



Some of the other elements from the Color Patch installation at Objet & Maison:


Installation by Danish fabric powerhouse Kvadrat:


and post-it mural by Benedicte Bailly:


Which segues nicely into Duncan Wilson's Pixel Notes wallpaper:



Interactive! Peel as you go!

So, if you're craving a little pixellation in your life but are hankering for something a little more substantial than the Zuzunaga wrapping paper, how about one of these glorious possibilities?

Heal's has killer pixel bedding that's a dead-ringer for the Zuzunaga designs:


also from Heal's, this glamorama Jewel Spectrum pendant:


Want some pixels with your breakfast? Used to be available at Elsewares, but seem to be sold out... fingers crossed!


The DC girls first alerted me to these amazing prints by Andy Gilmore--totally groovy and totally affordable, available at his Etsy shop here:



or, since we're all on recession budgets, how about a little simple desktop beautification, free of charge? I spotted these incredible pixelly images on Le Divan Fumoir Boheme--they are packets of pastels.



They have the same abstraction and radiant color as the Zuzunaga prints, and I love them, and they are free! Can't beat that.